Gillard Tightens Grip on Power as Opposition Lawmaker Takes Speaker’s Role

By Michael Heath and Ben Sharples -
Nov 24, 2011

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard strengthened the Labor Party’s control of parliament as
an opposition lawmaker defied his party and took the position of
speaker of the legislature.

Peter Slipper, a member of the Liberal-National coalition,
agreed to take the speaker’s post after the resignation of
Labor’s Harry Jenkins today. Gillard’s minority government,
which relies on the backing of three independents and a Greens
Party member to pass legislation, effectively gains an extra
vote in the lower house, while the opposition loses one because
the speaker can’t cast a ballot.

The move on parliament’s last sitting day this year boosts
momentum for Gillard, the nation’s first female prime minister,
as she tries to reverse her government’s slide in opinion polls.
It caps a three-week period in which she passed key legislation
to make polluters pay for carbon emissions, cleared her mining
tax bill through the lower house, announced a defense accord
with the U.S. and overtook opposition leader Tony Abbott as
preferred leader for the first time in six months.

“The government’s had a difficult year, they’re still
behind in the polls,” said Nick Economou, a political analyst
at Melbourne’s Monash University and co-author of “Media, Power
and Politics in Australia.” “But I think there’s a sense that
they are starting to turn it around.”

No Majority

Gillard formed a government last year after the nation’s
closest election in seven decades ended Labor’s majority. She
has had to rely on the support of the independent and Greens
lawmakers to secure the 75 votes needed to pass legislation in
the 150-member House of Representatives. Australia’s
constitution allows the speaker to vote only if the lower house
is tied.

Slipper’s election as speaker and Jenkins’ return to the
backbenches means Gillard now has 76 votes in the lower house
and the coalition 73, compared with the previous margin of 75 to
74.

Slipper, addressing the parliament for the first time since
becoming speaker, said he would relinquish his party membership
to underline his independence in the role.

‘Westminster Tradition’

“I will be an independent speaker in the Westminster
tradition and I notice that on four occasions in September 2010
the leader of the opposition said that was his preference as far
as a model for speakership is concerned,” Slipper said.

He was referring to a period when both parties were
courting independents to form a minority government. His
decision to leave the party pre-empted a likely move by Abbott
to eject him.

Abbott said earlier today that Jenkins’ resignation as
speaker underscored his argument that Gillard’s minority
government is dysfunctional. He also warned opposition members
against taking the role.

“The speaker has resigned so that the government can shore
up its numbers in the parliament,” Abbott told reporters in
Canberra. “Any of our members that might accept such a
nomination would be henceforth excluded from our party room.”

A Newspoll survey this week showed Gillard’s rating as
preferred prime minister rose to 40 percent from 39 percent two
weeks earlier, her highest level since July. Support for Abbott
as preferred leader slipped 5 points to 35 percent, his lowest
standing in nine months, the poll of 1,143 people conducted Nov.
18-20 and published by the Australian newspaper showed. The
survey had a margin of error of three percentage points.

Party Coup

Gillard, who ousted predecessor Kevin Rudd in a party coup
in June 2010, has seen her poll ratings slump this year after
she reneged on an election pledge not to introduce a carbon tax.

Parliament passed the carbon plan on Nov. 8 and this week
the lower house backed her proposed 30 percent tax on coal and
iron-ore profits.

The government is battling to meet its pledge to return the
nation’s budget to surplus by 2012-13 as Europe’s debt crisis
slows global growth and curbs Australian tax revenue.

The Reserve Bank on Nov. 1 cut rates for the first time in
31 months, lowering the benchmark to 4.5 percent from a
developed-world high of 4.75 percent, and on Nov. 4 cut its
forecasts for growth and inflation for the next two years.

Local Currency

The local currency has declined 7 percent in the past month
and fell below parity with the U.S. dollar last week as traders
bet the central bank will need to lower borrowing costs again.
It strengthened 0.5 percent today, the most in almost two weeks,
and traded at 97.39 cents at 2:42 p.m. in Sydney.

Gillard’s government has also been under pressure among
traditional Labor supporters over proposed laws to force
gamblers to limit their losses on slot machines, known in
Australia as poker machines. It agreed to introduce bills in
order to secure the vote of independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie.

Wilkie has said he would withdraw his support if Gillard
didn’t implement the laws, which may force gamblers to pre-set
limits on how much they are prepared to lose, or lower the
maximum stakes on machines per bet to A$1. Passing such
legislation could hurt Gillard in Labor strongholds such as
western Sydney, where slot-machine gambling is a popular
pastime.

The change in speakers and the resulting shift in voting
numbers reduces the government’s reliance on Wilkie and loosens
his grip on the legislative agenda.

‘Cut Wilkie Adrift’

“They’re going to cut Wilkie adrift,” said Economou of
Monash University. “But this may also be part of a strategy to
try and put a bit of distance between the Labor and the
Greens.”

“The government is not so foolish to think that they could
burn me because they know they may well need me again for any
number of reasons,” Wilkie told reporters in Canberra today.
“I believe the government is genuinely committed to honoring
the agreement. As far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed,
nothing at all.”

Rupert Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph, the best-selling daily
newspaper in Australia’s largest city of Sydney, reported Nov. 3
that Rudd was being urged by colleagues to mount a leadership
challenge against Gillard.

Gillard’s improved standing in the Newspoll survey followed
her Nov. 16 announcement with President Barack Obama of an
accord to deploy American Marines on Australian bases next year
as the U.S. moves to counter China’s regional influence.

While the prime minister’s rating has improved, this week’s
Newspoll showed Labor’s standing remains weak. Labor trailed the
Liberal-National coalition, with support falling two points from
a seven-month high to 30 percent. Support for the opposition
rose 4 points to 48 percent, it said.